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Lifelong SU basketball fan John Cabal, 14, stands by his family's car as Syracuse police take photos. Cabal's father was attacked as he drove to pick up his son after Saturday's game. (Jeff Stein | jstein@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Andrew Cabal was on his way to pick up his son and his son's friend after they watched Syracuse University's euphoric 91-89 victory over Duke Saturday night when both Cabal and a black SUV moved toward the same open stretch of road.

A hooded man looked at him from the SUV's passenger seat.

"He yelled an expletive and said, 'If you don't let us through I'll punch your face,'" said Cabal, a Syracuse University alumnus. "I kept my window up and tried to ignore the guy."

Cabal kept his eyes ahead on South Crouse Avenue, which was at a standstill from traffic after the game. Then the man started screaming again.

A mild-mannered, bespectacled father, Cabal didn't want to provoke the evidently intoxicated stranger. But he didn't want to be a "chump," either, he said.

"So I said, 'You must have read How to Win Friends and Influence People,'" the advice book by Dale Carnegie, Cabal said with a laugh. "Apparently he didn't like that."

Soon after the retort, the assailant got out of his car and walked up to Cabal. Cabal rolled up his window but the man punched and shattered it, then grabbed Cabal and punched him twice in the jaw.

A Syracuse University alumnus picking his son up after Saturday's game was attacked by an irate man after the alumnus mentioned the Dale Carnegie book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

"He punches like a wimp," Cabal said of the suspect. "I have an 11-year-old who can punch harder."

The man got back in his car and took off. By then, however, dozens of SU fans on the street had seen what had happened and rushed forward to help, Cabal said.

They relayed descriptions to police, who in turn began searching the area for a suspect.

Syracuse police officers on scene later confirmed that an arrest had been made in connection with the broken car window.

They didn't release the suspect's name but said he was likely at least in his 30's, if not older.

"Certainly too old to be doing dumb things like this," one Syracuse police officer said.

Tony Callisto of Syracuse University's Department of Public Safety confirmed there was an assault report in the area Saturday night but deferred to Syracuse police. Other than this incident, there were no major reports of mayhem Saturday night, he said.

Cabal's son John, 14, waited for his dad as a Syracuse police officer took pictures of the shattered car window.

John said he is a life-long SU basketball fan whose first word was "ball." He and his friend, Mike, got tickets for the Duke game as soon as they could.

From the nosebleeds -- the fifth row from the highest seat in the house -- John and Mike cheered on the Orange and, in particular, Jerami Grant's dunks.

"It's too bad because it was a great game," said John, as a pack of young men careened toward the bars on Marshall Street screaming profanities.

John said he had no idea why anyone would attack his dad.

His dad, however, suspected that his assailant could just have been a sore loser.

"He wasn't wearing Orange," Andrew Cabal said of the suspect, "so maybe he was a Duke fan."